Today was my official return to public life. Or, at least, life that doesn’t involve spending about eighteen hours a day in bed. Kids are off school (four day weekend…. ugh, what’s up with my state-sponsored daycare system, as my mother used to say). Had parent-teacher meetings which went well—for both kids, which is unusual. Bought a rather frightening amount of groceries (yes, the cash crisis has eased, at least for the moment. Tomorrow I will pay a frightening amount of bills, too) And, I actually made some pretense of sewing. Not, of course, my winter coat (still no buttons, haven’t decided what to do about the buttonholes). Nor have I progressed in tracing out the Lady Grey pattern (not that I have muslin fabric or regular coat fabric for that, either, mind you) No, smarty-pants that I am, I spied the thread for a Pyjama Sew-Along on PR and just had to jump in. Now, I have been wishing most of this past week that I had self-stitched pyjamas, and I definitely need pyjamas (I have three nighties, only one of which is actually cute)… but really, I should be working on either the Lady Grey prep or my big coat. Or, y’know, the talk I’m supposed to be giving at this conference in a couple of weeks. Ulp.

Not really much to say. Cute (I’m not going to make those arm flounces…)… free. I like free patterns. I decided to cut the 34, despite my measurements being squarely in the 36 range, because I often have to take stuff in through the bust. We’ll see if this was a wise decision. I’m a little nervous about the shirred back-panel providing the right amount of stretch, but I guess we’ll just have to see. I should probably have straightened the princess seams on the cups for a slight SBA… we’ll call this version the wearable muslin, before I break out the crazy silks. From, y’know, my huge stash of expensive luxury fabrics. Anyway, so far I have the bust pieces put together. Big whoop. But, considering that just walking around the grocery store for a couple hours this afternoon almost put me out, I’m going to call it a productive day.

In Self-Stitched September news, the parent-teacher conference gave me an excuse to dress up nice. Mmm, I love this combination.

Lydia and Danielle layered on top, Jalie jeans beneath

For the sake of the photos I figured I’d accessorize. This is a vintage mink-trimmed coat my sister-in-law gave her; she got it from her father, and I have absolutely no idea whence it came beyond that except it’s old. It’s got the oddest stand to the collar, too, that appears to have been hand-stitched down, although that’s the only obvious couture thing about it. It really is a lovely coat, other than the sleeves being about an inch too long, and I wish I went off to the symphony or the theatre (NOT the local cineplex, either) more often so I would have a reason to wear it. Ironically, today is pretty much the first day all month I didn’t need a jacket of any kind to go out in, but it was still fun to model.

I commented on your SSS flickr picture too, you look great! Glad to hear you’re feeling better…
Thanks for the heads-up on the pyjama sew along, I might just run over and join in too, I need some new jammies!
And thankyou for your kind birthday wishes.

hmmm… free nighties. I keep putting off making new ones, but free is tempting.

Regarding the coat: it’s possible the coat was purchased and then the mink trim was added afterwards. This wouldn’t be uncommon, especially in the 60’s. Detachable fur collars (and occasionally cuffs) were also common additions to purchased coats.

Or the manufacturer just hired someone to hand sew in the fur. Whichever.

I gotta take pictures of this, it’s so weird. Or maybe normal for a fur coat, what do I know. The stand (not fur) seems to attach halfway up the inside of the collar. It’s cut in about three parts, two to the front, one across the back. The front parts are sewn in with the coat, like a normal collar, but the back portion has a finished bottom edge that’s bee hand.stitched down. Maybe to make it possible to adjust the roll height of the collar once purchased? No idea